Western Sadhus and Sannyasins in India

By Marcus Alsop

This book contains interviews and stories about a unique group of westerners who lived in India for twenty years or more. Now known as sadhus and sannyasins (traditional Indian holy men or women),... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0934252505
• ISBN13: 9780934252508
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Hohm Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Illuminating culture

The spiritual seekers of the 60's and 70's by and large travelled to Asia, found gurus, lived in ashrams, and then came home. But Marcus Allsop has tracked down those who decided to renounce their former lives and stay in India. Living as ascetics near ashrams or in the backcountry, these Westerners have been assimilated into Indian culture, yet serve as unique witnesses to the interface between the "spiritual" East and the "material" West. Each individual Marcus meets reveals a depth of character that illuminates the attraction of Indian spiritual practices to the dispossesed and the just plain curious.The book is an short and an easy read, but with further reflection, the depth of the themes revealed herein can be worthy of a lifetime of study.This would have been a five-star book if the typeface was more readable. Unfortunately the designer didn't realize that most of us read better with serifs. People with astigmatism: beware.